Melbourne have lived up to their status as minor premiers by marching into an NRL preliminary final, with skipper Harry Grant bagging a hat-trick in a thumping 37-10 victory over Cronulla.
With the match well in their keeping, Ryan Papenhuyzen kicked a field goal for fun in the final minute in what has been described as a “savage” move.
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The fourth-placed Sharks matched the Storm early in their Saturday afternoon clash at AAMI Park, only trailing 14-10 at halftime.
But Melbourne didn’t allow Cronulla to add to that tally while skipper Grant added 12 of his own points, scoring three second-half tries.
Will Warbrick also added his second for the day, with the home side finishing in style.
On the back of the win Melbourne earned a week off, while Cronulla will face the winner of the North Queensland versus Newcastle elimination final next weekend.
Looking for a second win in Melbourne this season after their round-10 victory, the match couldn’t have got off to a worse start for the visitors.
Fullback Will Kennedy spilt the kick-off over the dead-ball line, with the Storm crossing off the goal-line drop-out.
Cameron Munster put his stamp on the match in the first minute, the five-eighth crashing over from dummy half.
With his ability to deliver in a big game under question, Nico Hynes made an early statement when he helped set up the Sharks’ opening try.
Collecting the Hynes pass, Siosifa Talakai, replacing injured centre Jesse Ramien, was able to stand up in the tackle and off-load for Sione Katoa to touch down.
But the Storm pushed their lead out when Nick Meaney got a backhand flick pass away to Warbrick for his first try.
However, the Hynes critics got some ammunition when the halfback failed to find touch and the Storm were rewarded with a penalty in their set of six, with Briton Nikora taking out Munster off the ball to open up a 14-4 lead.
It looked like Melbourne would take that commanding margin into halftime, but some Braydon Trindall brilliance in the final seconds saw Nikora cross under the post to close the gap to four points.
Grant crossed 10 minutes into the second half after a neat wraparound play with Josh King, then Warbrick collected a pin-point Jahrome Hughes kick into the in-goal, which put the Storm in control.
The Melbourne captain then landed two late blows, scoring twice in the final 10 minutes before Papenhuyzen rounded off the scoring with an unnecessary field goal.
– With 7NEWS